24
May 2012
The Power of Pictures in Marketing
By Bob Speyer and Ilana Youngheim, Web Success Team
In today’s online reality, users are too busy to read and they just want to skim until something catches their eye. Since pictures can tell an effective story without saying hundreds of words, visual social platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr have enjoyed tremendous growth and popularity. Brands are now taking advantage of this trend by making infographics and stories easier to find and more enjoyable to see.
Images are a way to share ideas and get engagement from fans. You are not limited to just the written word. Share images of your favorite things: foods, vacation spots, charities, etc. It gets a conversation started.
Site Traffic
Pinterest is an excellent example of pictures bringing site traffic. An interesting fact is that Pinterest has grown faster than Facebook or Twitter during its launch year. It is already driving more traffic that Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. One reason for the growth is its effectiveness when adding images to your sites or blogs and then “pinning” them on Pinterest you are creating a link back to your site. You can then count on more visitors coming to your site.
Five Image Sharing Sites
- Pinterest: As discussed above it’s a great sharing tool. You “pin” your pictures and people are able to like or share. It also drives traffic back to the site where the image originated from.
Take away: People “re-pin” your images. Audience “likes” your images and spreads the information for you. You also get site traffic. - Instagram: It’s an app on the iPhone and so easy to use. There is also an audience aspect. On the app you are able to follow people and have people follow you. You can see their photos and they can see yours.
Take away: Instagram lets you share on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more. You can make friends on Instagram and have people follow you and comment on your pictures. - Google+: It’s somewhat like Facebook but the pictures are bigger. You are able to brand your company with images. You can also create circles of friends, colleagues, and more.
Take away: Brand your company through pictures. It’s a great way to get the word across and make it fun. - Posterus: The simple site it’s a great way to post anything by email. It allows you to post multiple photos and create an image gallery.
Take away: Automatically posts to your Posterous site and you get a custom domain and Google Analytics. If you want a very simple blog that is incredibly easy to publish content to when you’re on the go, then Posterous is a great option. - Tumblr: The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog, named a “tumblelog”. Users can follow other users’ blogs, as well as make their blogs private.
Take away: You “follow” other blogs or people that you like, based on the content they post. Essentially you go around posting and “reblogging” pictures. It’s a great way to share information and pictures.
Pictures are eye catching. Be thoughtful in the way that you use them. As you can see there are many different ways to share pictures. They can be the voice of your brand. It doesn’t matter which platform that you use. It does take time to find to find the right images but finding the right images and you’ll see the results of your marketing improve.
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